Pantograph-type door mounting arrangement



Se t. 26, 1967 E. P. LAUG PANTOGRAPH-TYPE DOOR MOUNTING ARRANGEMENT Filed Feb. 11. 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I N VEN TOR. Er sr P Loug Arrorney Sept. 26, 1967 E. P. LAUG PANTOGRAPH-TYPE DOOR MOUNTING ARRANGEMENT Filed Feb. 11,v 1966 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 m 70 mu VG mL 10' S n Yl E BY WW Afrorney United States Patent 3,343,904 PANTOGRAPH-TYPE DOOR MQUNTING ARRANGEMENT Ernst P. Lang, Park Ridge, 11]., assignor to General Electric Company, a corporation of New York Filed Feb. 11, 1966, Ser. No. 526,790 6 Claims. (Cl. 312-319) This invention relates to door mounting arrangements, and more particularly to such arrangements where the door is of the pantograph type wherein it moves through an are from its open to its closed position, but keeps its outer surface away from the compartment to be closed and its inner side toward the compartment to be closed both in the open and the closed position.

Doors of this general type are well known in the art, and have been used in many applications throughout the years. They are particularly well suited for some applications. For instance, in eye-level ranges, currently enjoying substantial popularity, the type of movement of this door permits the door to be moved between open and closed position without pivoting out toward the user of the range. Use of this type of door therefore decreases the chances that the user may be burned by contact with the inner surface of the door, and also decreases the extent to which the door is in the way when the user of the range is putting something into or taking something out of the oven.

Because of the thermal insulating qualities which must be present in such a door, they are often quite heavy. Since the hinge arms which mount them are quite long, there tends to result a feeling of looseness in the door which, although it may not affect the operability of the appliance, may cause a user some concern.

It is accordingly an object of my invention to provide an improved door mounting structure in connection with pantograph-type doors wherein a cooperative relationship of the hinge arms and of the door is used in order to eliminate undesirable looseness in the movement of the door.

It is a more specific object of my invention to achieve this goal where the hinge arms are formed of sheet material, generally sheet metal, and wherein appropriate embossments are provided to effect a cooperative wedging relationship; this provides increased rigidity between the arms and the door.

In one aspect of my invention, my improved door mounting structure is provided in connectiton with a casing forming a compartment having a front opening. While the compartment may be for any suitable use, one particularly good application for my invention has been found to be in the case of eye-level ranges wherein pantograph-type doors are provided. In cooperative relationship with the compartment, there is a pantograph-type door for opening and closing the compartment. In the usual way, the door is mounted by at least two hinge arms which are respectively pivotally connected at their one ends to a vertically extending recess formed in the door, and at their other ends to the casing.

The hinge arms extend in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the door. In the conventional way, they support the door for movement between a closed position when the door is vertical, and an open position when the door moves up through an arc Without any major deviation of the door from the vertical position. The arms are formed of sheet material extending in the plane of the arms, and at least one of these arms is embossed so that, as the door moves to its open position, the embossment becomes wedged in the recess.

As a result of this, the arm has a rubbing engagement with a side of its associated recess as the door moves to its open position. This has been found to diminish very substantially the horizontal looseness which is otherwise present in the door. Also, the embossment makes the arm more rigid so that there is less bending of the arm itself.

The features of my invention which are believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself, however, both as to organiza tion and method of operation together with further objects and advantages thereof, may best be understood by reference to the following detailed descriptiton taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, FIGURE 1 is a front view in perspective of a cooking range having an eye-level oven with a pantograph-type door;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged fragmentary view along line 2-2 in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view along line 33 in FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is a view along line 44 in FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 5 is a view along line 55 in FIGURE 2, showing the position of the upper hinge arm and its relationship to the door when the door is in its open position.

Referring now to FIGURE 1, there is shown, purely for purposes of illustration, a range 1 of the type in which my invention may be incorporated. The range has an outer cabinet 2 within which a metal oven liner 3 is formed to provide an eye-level oven 4 in which, in the conventional way, suitable racks 5 and heating units such as 6 may provided. The oven 4 has a door 7, mounted in a manner to be hereinafter described, to the casingQDoor 7 includes a handle 8 to permit it to be moved from the closed position, shown in solid lines in FIGURE 2, to its open position, shown in FIGURE 1 and in dotted outline in FIGURE 2. In its open position, door 7 is above the opening 9 of oven 4, in front of the controls 10 for the oven.

The structure of the range is conventionally completed by providing a cooking platform 11 having a plurality of suitable surface burners 12 provided in the upper surface thereof, with suitable controls 13 being provided for the regulation of the surface burners.

Between the oven liner 3 and the outer cabinet 4 on each side of oven 4 there is provided a space 14. Each space 14 accommodates a pair of hinge arms including an upper hinge arm 15 and a lower hinge arm 16.

As shown in FIGURES 3 and 4, the door may include a relatively heavy frame piece 17, including a shoulder 18, into which an outer pane of glass 19 is positioned. A spacer member 20 is positioned so as to keep in spaced relation the pane 19 and an inner pane 21 which is in a plane parallel to plane 19 and spaced from it. Inner pane 21 is held against shoulder 22 of spacer 20, and parallel to outer pane 19, by a retainer member 23 which lies flat against the inner pane and is intended to be secured at its ends (not shown) to the upper and lower parts of frame 17.

At each side the frame 17 is formed with an inner section 24 and an outer section 25 which define between them a vertically extending recess 26. It will be understood that this construction is identical on each side of the door. Recess 26 thus opens at 27 to the inner surface of the door, the side which continuously faces toward compartment 3, decreasing in width (the distance between sections 24 and 25) as the depth of the recess increases, that is, as the recess extends toward the outer surface of the door. A pin 28 is provided connected to section 24, and end 29 of arm 15 is pivotally mounted on the pin. Thus, it can readily be seen that end 29 of arm 15 is maintained within recess 26 in pivotal relation to the door by virtue of its being mounted on the pin 28. The same relationship is provided by a pin 30 for the end 31 of lower arm 16, that is, the end 31 of the arm is pivotally mounted to the door within the recess 26 at the side of the door.

Referring now again to the upper arm 15, it has its other end 32 pivotally secured by a pin 33 on a support 34 which may be secured in any suitable manner to the casing. End 32 of the arm is also formed so as to be connected by a member 35 to one end of a spring 36 having its other end connected to a support 37 also fastened to the casing. In this manner there is a continual pull on the door when it is in the open position shown in dotted outline in FIGURE 2, and the door is thus maintained in that position in the conventional way by the biasing action of the spring.

The lower arm 16 has its other end 38 connected to a pin 39, also mounted on the casing.

It will be seen that the door hinging system consists, on each side, of a four-sided figure formed by the pins 28, 30, 39 and'33. This is a conventional pantograph-type door-mounting arrangement wherein the fact that a gener-ally rectangular, or parallelogram, type of linkage is provided causes the door to move through an are between its open and closed positions, while retaining substantially the same vertical position throughout its motion. Of course, it can be seen that the preferred structure is such that the relationship is a general one, that is, a linkage providing tilting up to 15 or 20 degrees is, in essence, considered to be a parallelogram or pantograph-type mounting system in that the outer surface of the door continually faces outward and the inner surface of the door continually faces inward.

While the movement of the door is determined by the shape of a straight-line four-sided figure drawn between the pins, an important aspect of my invention lies in providing at least one of the arms 15 and 16 with a particular configuration which does not follow the straight lines. More specifically, the upper arm 15 has a curve 40 formed in it which extends into a straight section 41; straight section 41 then is connected to a straight section 42 through a small angle, and section 42 has its end 29 pivotally connected to the door as described.

It is to be recognized that, for both economy and appearance, it is conventional to form the arms 15 and 16 from sheet metal. While such metal does have sufiicient strength to perform itstask, it also has sumcient sideways elasticity to give the door a feeling of looseness which, while present in all positions, is particularly noticeable in the open position of the door.

It is toward this aspect of the structure that my invention is directed. At the outer end 29 of arm 15 I provide an embossment 43. As best shown in FIGURE 3, embossment 43 is wedged against outer section 25 of frame 17 when the door is in the closed position shown in FIGURE 2. This wedging action causes a good tight feeling when the door is started toward an open position from a closed position. In addition to embossment 43, elongated embossment 44 is provided in arm 15, extending down the center of the arm through both portions 41 and 42 thereof. Embossment 44 performs two substantial functions. First, it gives a good stiffening effect to the arm so that the arm itself has less of a tendency toward sideways or horizontal motion, particularly when it is in the open position shown in dotted outline in FIGURE 2. Second, the shape of the arm, with its terminal portion 42, is such that, in the open position of the door, portion 42 of the arm extends down substantially straight within the recess 26, with embossment 44 wedged within the recess against the outer side 25 thereof through the length of section 42. This wedging action over a substantial length cooperates with the improved rigidity of the arm itself to maintain the feeling of tightness for the person operating the door.

Thus, a dual function is obtained from the embossment and the shape of the arm; both increased rigidity of the arm and a highly desirable inter-action between the arm 15 and the door are provided.

In the broader application of my invention, the substantially increased tightness of operation of the door is obtained with the modification of arm 15 as described. However, this effect is yet further improved by modifying the bottom arm 16 so as to have an embossment 45 formed thereon. As the door pivots to its open position, embossment 45 tends to move into recess 26 to the position shown in FIGURE 4. This again provides a wedging action which helps to give the door .a tight feeling when the door is moved.

It will be understood that this same structure is, in the preferred aspect of my invention, provided on both sides of the door. This is, of course, simply a matter of manufacturing economics and of the extent to which it is felt desirable to stiffen the door and restrict lateral movement of the arms in the various positions of the door.

While in accordance with the patent statutes I have described what at present is considered to be the preferred embodiment of my invention, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the invention, and it is therefore aimed in the appended claims to cover all such equivalent variations as fall within the true spirit and scope of my invention.

What I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. In combination:

(a) a casing forming a compartment having a front opening;

(b) a door for opening and closing said opening, said door having at least one vertically extending recess formed extending from the door surface which faces said compartment toward the door surface remote from said compartment;

(c) a lower hinge arm pivotally connected at its one end to said door in said recess and pivotally connected at its other end to said casing;

(d) an upper hinge arm pivotally connected at its one end to said door in said recess above said lower hinge arm and pivotally connected at its other end to said casing;

(e) said hinge arms supporting said door for movement between a closed position wherein said door is vertical and an open position wherein said door is moved up through an arc with no substantial tilting of said door from the vertical;

(f) each said arm being formed of sheet material extending in a plane perpendicular to the plane of said door in closed position;

(g) at least one of said arms being embossed so as to be wedged into rubbing engagement with a side of said recess thereby to diminish substantially horizontal looseness of said door in its open position and to increase the rigidity of said arm.

2. In combination:

(a) a casing forming a compartment having a front opening;

(b) a door for opening and closing said opening, said door having a pair of vertically extending recesses respectively formed at the sides thereof, each said recess extending from the door surface which faces said compartment toward the door surface remote from said compartment;

(c) a pair of lower hinge arms respectively pivotally connected at their one ends to said door in said recesses and pivotally connected at their other ends to said casing:

(d) a pair of upper hinge arms respectively pivotally connected at their one ends to said door in said recesses above said lower hinge arms and pivotally connected at their other ends to said casing;

(e) said hinge arms supporting said door for movement between a closed position wherein said door is vertical and an open position wherein said door is moved up through an arc with no substantial tilting of said door from the vertical;

(f) each said arm being formed of sheet material extending in a plane perpendicular to the plane of said door;

(g) at least one of said arms being embossed so as to be wedged into rubbing engagement with the side of its associated recess, thereby to diminish substantially horizontal looseness of the door in its open position.

3. The combination defined in claim 2 wherein said one arm includes a portion thereof extending from said one end thereof in a straight line, said arm being bent so that said portion thereof extends down within said recess throughout its length when said door is in said open position, said portion thereof being embossed substantially throughout its length so that it is wedged throughout its length when said door is in its open position.

4. The combination defined in claim 1 wherein said recess is wedge-shaped, decreasing in width from the inner surface of said door as it extends toward the outer surface of said door, and said am is formed to extend farther into said recess as said door is opened, whereby as said door is moved into open position and said embossment extends farther into said recess, the feeling of rigidity of said door is increased.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,905,858 4/1933 Hamilton 16-140 1,987,060 1/1935 Hammond 16-140 2,812,535 11/1957 Ragsdale 16-140 2,845,923 8/ 1958 Nelson 126-191 3,059,985 10/1962 Peck 312-319 3,146,487 9/1964 Johnson et al 16-135 X 3,157,176 11/1964 Pearce et a1. 126-191 3,242,919 3/ 1966 Pearce et al 126-191 DAVID J. WILLIAMOWSKY, Primary Examiner.

JAMES T. McCALL, Examiner. 

1. IN COMBINATION: (A) A CASING FORMING A COMPARTMENT HAVING A FRONT OPENING; (B) A DOOR FOR OPENING AND CLOSING SAID OPENING, SAID DOOR HAVING AT LEAST ONE VERTICALLY EXTENDING RECESS FORMED EXTENDING FROM THE DOOR SURFACE WHICH FACES SAID COMPARTMENT TOWARD THE DOOR SURFACE REMOTE FROM SAID COMPARTMENT; (C) A LOWER HINGE ARM PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT ITS ONE END TO SAID DOOR IN SAID RECESS AND PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT ITS OTHER END TO SAID CASING; (D) AN UPPER HINGE ARM PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT ITS ONE END TO SAID DOOR IN SAID RECESS ABOVE SAID LOWER HINGE ARM AND PIVOTALLY CONNECTED AT ITS OTHER END TO SAID CASING; (E) SAID HINGE ARMS SUPPORTING SAID DOOR FOR MOVEMENT BETWEEN A CLOSED POSITION WHEREIN SAID DOOR IS VERTICAL AND AN OPEN POSITION WHEREIN SAID DOOR IS MOVED UP THROUGH AN ARC WITH NO SUBSTANTIAL TILTING OF SAID DOOR FROM THE VERTICAL; (F) EACH SAID ARM BEING FORMED OF SHEET MATERIAL EXTENDING IN A PLANE PERPENDICULAR TO THE PLANE OF SAID DOOR IN CLOSED POSITION; (G) AT LEAST ONE OF SAID ARMS BEING EMBOSSED SO AS TO BE WEDGED INTO RUBBING ENGAGEMENT WITH A SIDE OF SAID RECESS THEREBY TO DIMINISH SUBSTANTIALLY HORZONTAL LOOSENESS OF SAID DOOR IN ITS OPEN POSITION AND TO INCREASE THE RIGIDITY OF SAID ARM. 